The Selfish Act of Selflessness
by Melissalee116
Summary: Brock has reappeared and asked Misty to help Ash. Now that he's turning 18 he wants to give up and go home to be "Something else" When Misty goes will she be able to help Brock and show Ash that he must keep following his dreams? Or will she he selfish and tell him how following his dreams has hurt their friendship?
1. Chapter 1

**I do not own Pokemon or any of its affiliates. This story was made from my own original ideas based off the characters as used in the series. **

A young man walked up the path to the door. It had been a few months, maybe even almost a year since he'd last been here but everything looked the same. It gave him comfort to know he could leave and nothing would really change. When he got to the door he knocked twice and waited for someone to answer. He didn't have to wait more than a few moments for her to appear. A tall blonde girl with a bored expression opened the door and looked him up and down. "Like can I help you sir?" She asked a little suspiciously. She recognized him but couldn't place him.

"Is Misty here?" He asked looking past Daisy into the house. She narrowed her eyes thinking harder.

"Wait aren't you that guy she used to travel around with?" She realized.

"One of them, yes."

"Hold on," She said more politely. "I'll go see if she's upstairs. Sometimes she leaves early and we don't hear her go out." She explained as she disappeared up the stairs. Once she was out of site Daisy rushed up the rest of the stairs and down the hall to her sister's room. She knocked loudly and waited only a moment before barging in anyway. Misty was sitting on her bed with a notebook in her hand studying while listening to music. She hadn't heard her sister and so was particularly stunned to see her come in.

"Daisy what are you doing?" She demanded after taking off her headphones.

"Like one of your friends who you used to run around with is downstairs."

"Who?" Misty asked looking perplexed. She hadn't heard from anyone in months. She definitely was not expecting someone to just show up.

"I don't know! I didn't like ask." Misty glared as she started to stand up and Daisy sighed. "Okay he was tall, and has dark hair and brown eyes. Misty rolled her eyes.

"They both have dark hair and brown eyes."

"Are they both tall?"

"I don't know I haven't seen Ash in ages, maybe?"

"Well either way he's waiting."

"I heard you." Misty said as she exited her room. She picked at her light blue blouse as she descended the stairs. She was wearing one of those see-through shirts that you wore a tang top under and white jeans. She felt particularly self-conscious because her hair was down. It was hard to keep it up when she was listening to music as she had those really big over-the-ear headphones, but she'd been wearing it down more often anyway. When she got down to the point she could see who was waiting her smile grew and she flew down the rest and into his arms. "Brock I'm so happy to see you! What are you doing here?" They pulled away after a moment and he responded.

"I'm glad to see you too, and I haven't heard from you. I needed to stop home and check on all the kids so this was my next stop." He said ruffling her hair. She pushed his hand out of her hair giving him a playful glare before remembering her manners.

"Well come in, would you like something to eat?" She offered politely leading him into the sitting room.

"Did you make it?" He questioned, concerned, while Misty gave him another warning look.

"Hey I'm a pretty good cook now." She defended as he took a seat on the sofa. "And anyway we have fruit and other snacks if you'd prefer."

"Can I just have some water maybe?"

"Sure I'll be right back." She smiled showing that he had not upset her temper this way as she moved quickly into the kitchen. Brock looked around the room with a smile. The outside hadn't changed and the inside hadn't much either, except for the photo update. There were still the picture from when the girls were young but now there were some from her elder sisters' tour and some newer ones of Misty, which he could tell by the cloths but especially her hair and body. Not in a creepy way, he had noticed over the years that she had developed into a woman quite some time ago. After all it had been seven years since they had all been together.

Misty returned with two glasses of water and handed one to Brock as she settled into an armchair. She folded her legs under her and smiled trying to think of exactly what to say. "How is the family?" She settled on finally after a few awkward moments.

"They're good." He countered feeling better that Misty had started the small talk. "They're all growing up on me, I mean heck look at you!" She blushed and looked into her water glass.

"Please I'm still the same old me."

"Not likely C'mon Mist I saw you at what your sixteenth birthday party?"

"And then again a little after Halloween."

"That's right." Brock recalled and the let the memory sink in. "But I mean before that the last time I had seen you, you must have been twelve because I was what?" He thought for a moment scrunching his eyebrows. "Sixteen? Geeze." Misty nodded.

"Yeah it must have been because Ash was thirteen, but he kept saying how he was almost fourteen." She mocked with a chuckle. Ash had almost fallen over when he realized Misty was younger than him. She was taller, was a gym leader, and had Pokemon, not to mention the temper of a Gyarados. But Misty was a good year younger she was born the spring after him and he was born in the summer. He usually tried to turn her Birthday into a reminder it was almost his. "Speaking of his birthday is in what? Two weeks?" She questioned trying hard to pretend that she didn't remember. Brock nodded.

"That's actually one of the reasons I wanted to come home and talk to you." Misty was genuinely surprised, and waited for him to continue. "Mist he's going to be eighteen, and he feels like he hasn't accomplished anything worthwhile. He's planning on announcing at his birthday party that he's coming home and going to school to be something else." When Brock looked up to meet Misty's gaze she looked like stone, if the stone was the most surprised and offended stone ever carved. It took a few moments for her to finally process all of this and respond.

"What could I do that you haven't already tried? I know Ash has accomplished a lot; he's still young he still has plenty of time to go up against the elite. I mean Larry didn't get there until he was in his thirties. Ash still has at least seven years to beat the record and be the youngest."

"That's not the problem."

"Brock then out with it you're confusing me." She said the agitation clear in her voice. It wasn't that she was angry or even that aggressive (anymore) just she didn't know how to control her voice to explain that to people who didn't know her. Brock did know her and could tell so none of this truly intimidated him.

"He thinks by the time he does everything he wants to do he's going to miss out on everything. I mean he hasn't seen you in over a year. I know for a fact he hasn't responded to any of your letters in the past six months, and it's because he feels guilty. He saw how much you had changed when we hadn't seen you in three years and he pointed out that he was going to miss everything to become a Master."

"So what would you like me to do about it?" She asked setting down her glass on the side table next to her as she repositioned herself to sit cross-legged on the chair. "I agree. He had missed out. He missed the ceremony when I was pronounced in the top five Kanto Gym Leaders, he hardly ever writes me back ever but especially lately and when he does he never checks in on me it's always like four pages about him and what's been going on."

"Did you just say like?"

"In the appropriate way yes, it's not an approximate number." They laughed for a moment before Brcok spoke again.

"Misty do you still care about Ash anyway?"

"Of course I do." She exclaimed a little offended.

"Are you still going to write him back over and over when he doesn't respond?" He asked

"Probably." She grumbled.

"He doesn't think that's true. Here" Brock extended his hand with a little card in it for Misty to take. She did and opened it reading it quickly.

"An invitation to his birthday party in ten days?" She questioned "It's kind of a long trek don't you think?"

"I know, look Gary is coming in a week with the Professor and Delia if you would like to go with them and I'm headed back in two days you are welcome to come with me as well. " She looked at the note deep in thought as he continued. "Misty it would mean the world to him if you were there and I would love to spend some extra time with you as well. " She smiled.

"I do miss you guys really, it's not that. If it were just about my missing you I would be there in a heartbeat. I'd go tomorrow. Brock you know how hard it is to see you guys all out living your dreams and me being stuck here."

"I do know that." He said with a smile standing up and walking to her. He stooped to her eye level before continuing. "But you deserve a break too. C'mon Misty take the two weeks for yourself, give the ten year olds around here a prayer for the badge and leave it to your sisters while you're away. They owe you that much."

"And when I have to leave again?"

"Wouldn't you rather be sad to leave than regret not going at all?" He had a good point. One that she really couldn't argue with. She did want to go, and her sister could surly watch the gym for two weeks. She took a deep breath.

"Let me think about it and I'll let you know in enough time either way."

"Okay fair deal."

"I still don't really understand what I could possibly do to help."

"Well I'm hoping knock some sense into him the good old fashioned way." They laughed and Brock stood.

"I would love to stay longer but I promised Suzie I'd make dumplings for dinner tonight."

"Oh yeah I understand go. I'll give you a call and let you know okay?" Brock smiled and when they got to the door gave her a big hug.

"I missed you Misty. I'm glad to see you're taking care of yourself here."

"I miss you too." She said quietly. She didn't want to cry and sometimes when Brock left she feared she would. Brock was legitimately the older brother she'd always wished she'd had. And even though he had more than enough little brothers and sisters he had somehow found room to call her one of them too. When he left Violet walked in and gave her a hard look.

"Okay sis, what did he want?"

"He wants me to come visit for a few weeks for Ash's birthday." She answered glad for the distraction. Just then Daisy peeked down from the stairs.

"Are you going to go?" She questioned.

"Is it even an option?" Misty asked looking back and forth at them. "You do realize that would mean you three would have to run the gym and everything on your own right?"

"Hey Baby Sister we do know how to like take care of the gym okay?" Daisy chastised as she came down the stairs. Almost on cue Lilly walked in next carrying groceries that she had left to get a few hours earlier.

"The market was so busy. I'm glad you're all here can someone like please help me put these away?" Misty grabbed two bags from her sister and Violet grabbed one too while the other two followed them into the kitchen and they started to help put everything away. "Did I miss something."

"Yes." Daisy said before getting distracted with a magazine Lilly had also picked up. Violet cut in for her.

"A friend of Misty showed up and he asked her to come to some party for two weeks." Lilly raised her eyebrows at Misty for much needed clarification and she answered next.

"Brock came by because he is home visiting his family. He invited me to Ash's birthday party which is in two weeks, and then asked if I would come earlier to spend some time with everyone since it's been so long and apparently Ash is going a little mad." Lilly nodded now understanding. When Misty had come back Lilly and he had gotten a little closer. Whereas before Misty had been closer to Daisy now she was probably closest to Lilly who was the most level headed of her elder sisters.

"Do you want to go?" Lilly questioned.

"I mean, sort of but not really."

"Which is it Sis?" Violet asked loosing interest quickly. "That offer to watch the gym while you're away is a limited time thing." Misty rolled her eyes and Daisy and Lilly both glared at her. She tried to be funny but she never picked the right times to be.

"I don't know it's complicated." Misty decided slamming the jar of olives into the fridge. Lilly took the oatmeal out of her hands and pulled her aside.

"You, go upstairs and think, write a list, like whatever you have to do to figure this out for you and let us know tonight. When would you have to leave?"

"Two days."

"Then really go you have to let Brock know don't you?"

"She said she would tell him." Daisy interjected.

"Then scoot. Go deep into that Misty Mind of yours and figure out what you want to do." She pushed Misty to the stairs and they all waited until she had disappeared to worry about it.

Misty sat in her room for about two hours laying out excuses not to go at all. The truth was she would be no help to Brock. She wanted Ash to follow his dreams but she felt very left behind. He rarely made the time for her she wished he would and more often than not she felt like she was solely responsible for the fact that they were still friends at all these days.

By the time dinner was ready she felt more lost than ever and ate in her room to avoid the questioning, she needed peace. Lilly eventually came back up and knocked on the door. She didn't wait for an answer which was a normal family trend when there were no men in the house and walked in joining Misty on the bed. "I hadn't realized there was so much to consider." She stated looked Misty up and down.

"With Ash involved there always is." Misty mussed more annoyed with herself than ever.

"So out with it. Why is this so hard for you? I thought you would jump at the chance to get out for a while, especially to see Ash… and Brock" She added when Misty stayed silent.

"He wants me to tell Ash that he should still follow his dreams and I don't know if I can."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean apparently Ash wants to give up and Brock wants me to encourage him that it's okay to miss the things here because we'll still be here waiting when he comes back eventually as the Pokemon Master. I don't think I can. I hate that Ash ignores me and is gone all the time. I miss him."

"Well of course you do." Lilly said wrapping an arm around her. "He's your best friend. It's hard to be so far away. But Sis if you don't go and he gives up you're going to blame yourself and that won't be fair. You need to go and see him and figure out what is going on. Because he's your best friend and that means sometimes doing what's best for him and not you." Lilly stood up giving a knowing smile. "You'll do the right thing, you'll see." And just like that she left Misty to make the final decision on her own.

**Thanks for reading, I hoped you liked the beginning please feel free to comment and review if you'd like.**

**Happy Reading :~D**


	2. Chapter 2

**I still don't own anything other than the plot. Hey there :) so just really quick thanks for clicking and this is a little different than my other stories it's a light read. I see this as more of a "finding yourself" story than anything else. So I hope you enjoy it. If you do you might want to check out my profile for some other stories, the choice is a little (lot) more intense. **

**Also this is a filler chapter in the beginning. I normally like to be very descriptive, but I just needed them to get from point A to B to start the real meat of the story. It's all still important or I would have just said "Poof they're doing X" but I'm sorry it's not as well written as it could have been. **

Misty closed her eyes and took a deep breath finally making her decision. She walked down the stairs to her video phone and dialed the number she knew so well. As it rang she tried to calm herself. She really couldn't figure out why she was so nervous. When the answer finally came in it was Brock's mother, Lola, who picked up the phone. As soon as she saw it was Misty she smiled brightly. "Misty darling how are you?" She asked with excitement.

"I'm well Lola how are you?" She asked in return not wanting to seem rude.

"Oh you know just making do around here." She said with a laugh. "What can I do for you today?"

"Well I was actually calling to talk to Brock is he around?" Lola thought for a moment. It was sad tht she actually couldn't remember what he was doing.

"Oh!" She exclaimed brightly when she remembered making Misty jump, "Brock is out training with Forest and Salvador, I can go get him if you would like."

"Please." Misty waited as Lola disappeared it took about five minutes for Brock to finally appear and Misty couldn't help but wonder if Lola had gotten distracted or just took forever to get to the point of telling Brock who was calling. "Hi Brock."

"Hey Misty did you make a decision?"

"Right to the point huh?"

"You know me." He said with a laugh.

"Yes I'll come, when do you want me to get to your place?"

"Well I'm leaving in two days," He reminded her thinking at the same time. "So it's up to you."

"I'll leave tomorrow afternoon so I'll get to you around supper time." Brock smiled.

"Well my Mom is cooking but you know she's the one that taught me all my cooking skills so it will be good."

"Hey coming at supper time is not all about the food!" She protested. Brock laughed.

"Sure it's not, anyway I promised my brothers I'd help them train so I've got to go, besides you've got a lot of packing to do." Misty rolled her eyes.

"You're telling me. See you soon Brock."

"Bye Misty." She ended the call on her end and sat back for a minute to think about what she would bring with her. She pulled out the pad of paper she always kept next to the phone and started to write down everything that she would need. When she had her list set she went up to her room and stared to get everything set. There was a lot to do; she needed to make sure everything was set for her sisters to run the gym, she needed to pack for the journey, pick out which Pokemon were coming with her and which ones would stay to defend the badge. She stayed up until four in the morning before she finally passed out in her bed leaving the rest to be dealt with later.

At around noon there was a knock on her door. Misty heard it but rolled over sure it was too early to be dealing with her sisters. Violet came in anyway and sat on her bed. "Like Misty it's late you need to get up." She said gently shaking her. Misty groaned and mumbled something inaudible into her pillow. Violet rolled her eyes and shook Misty harder. "Misty get up. You need to finish packing if you're going to leave on time and Daisy and I are leaving to get our hair done in an hour and would like to see you before you go okay?" Misty finally looked up and at the clock.

"I didn't realize it was so late." She explained.

"Like I knew that, that's why I woke you up. Anyway Daisy is making brunch if you want some." Violet said before she left the room. Misty looked around evaluating what still needed to be done. She probably had a god two hours' worth of work and so threw the cover off and got up to get ready. She put on the cloths she had picked out the night before and walked down to the kitchen.

"Morning sleepy head." Daisy greeted handing her a plate of food.

"Thanks, and thanks for waking me up Vi." Violet smiled but said nothing, continuing to eat her food. They ate in silence for a little while before Misty looked back up. "I left out the combination to the badges in the desk drawer in case you need them, and the schedule is up right now it's looking like a quite couple of weeks, oh and the tank was cleaned two days ago so you guys shouldn't have to worry about that-"

"Misty" Lilly cut off putting her hang up. "Stop honey we know." She said sweetly. Daisy smiled.

"Misty," Daisy started. "I know you think we can't do this because when you took over you took the gym to the next level, but Misty we did like do this for a while before that. Before the ballet shows took off we took the gym stuff much more seriously and we have been helping you a lot more in like the last few years. Its two weeks baby sister we can handle it." Misty nodded and took a deep breath. They continued to eat and chit chat. Misty stayed in the kitchen until Daisy and Violent went to get their hair and nails done. After that she finished everything she needed to do and went to the office. Lilly interrupted her ready to push her out the door if need-be. "Misty you are driving us crazy." She stated looking around the room trying to figure out what she possibly thought was left to do.

"Sorry it's not the gym. I don't have anything to give Ash so I was looking at the inventory to see if there was anything lying around he might like." Lilly rolled her eyes.

"You don't have to pick it out here. You have two weeks, wait and see if you can find something and if not call Mrs. Ketchum." Misty smiled.

"That's actually a pretty good idea. Thanks Lilly."

"Sure, now are you leaving or not?"

"What? That eager to get rid of me?"

"Yes!" She laughed "You need to go or you'll make you and Brock late."

"Okay, call me if you need me and I can come home sooner if there's a really big problem."

"There won't be Sis but that phone works both ways, remember that okay?" She reminded with a wink. Misty smiled and gave her sister a last goodbye hug before finally leaving. Once she was on the road she took out a pokeball and called out Gyarados. He was not only the only Gyarados in the world she liked, but also her only flying/ water type pokemon.

"Hey Gyarados ready to fly to Brock's?" She asked climbing on its back. He gave a roar of approval before jumping off and flying toward pewter city. It only took about an hour to get to his house and by then Gyarados was very tired. Once they landed Misty immediately recalled him to his pokeball and started for the door, bags on her back. When she got to the door she was greeted by Flint, Brock's father, with a smile and a hug.

"It's good to see you Misty."

"You too Flint, I'm sorry it's been so long." He gave her a warm pat on the back leading her in. Misty had taken it upon herself to stay close to both Brock's and Ash's families while they were away. She liked having the connection to them even when they couldn't be there. It was one of the few things she had never told either of them. She didn't want them to feel bad that she was stepping up while they were away. Anyway because of that she had become very close to everyone. It had been a while though she had seen Delia last month but she hadn't gotten to Pewter in about three.

Lola was next to appear, chipper as ever, with a big hug for her as well. "Misty dear how are you?"

"I'm well thank you." Even though she was very flighty and Misty didn't like how she walked out on her children constantly she was an excellent water type trainer that Misty respected if nothing else. Plus Lola loved talking to Misty about Cerulean. She joked constantly that she was going to move the family there, but it would be over Brock and Forest's dead bodies.

"You don't feel like switching places any time soon do ya?" She joked with a wink.

"Not today anyway but I'll keep it in mind." Misty said lightly. She understood exactly how Brock felt about her. She was 300% more confident leaving the gym with her sister than she ever would be with leaving it with Lola, after all she might disappear on a whim one day.

"Mom cut it out." Brock moaned coming out from the kitchen. "Here Misty" He said as he handing her a plate of food. "We saved you some dinner."

"Thank you." She said gratefully setting down her bags to eat. It took a while to get through the meal as all of Brock's family was talking to her and asking questions.

When she was finally done. Forest took her plate and Brock leaned in to whisper. "Hey do you want to get out of here tonight?" Normally she would have hesitated because this was Brock's family after all, but they were acting a little extra clingy so she nodded instead. She didn't know what was up, but she had a feeling there was more to this trip than Ash's birthday and pep talk.

They chatted for another hour before Brock broke the news that to get to the port they would really need to leave that night. Everyone seemed disappointed but understood. It would take a whole day's journey to get to Ash and that was if he'd stayed close to port like he was supposed to. When they started walking Misty turned to Brock first.

"This feels weird doesn't it?" She asked him staring at the ground in front of her.

"Just a little bit. After all I'm basically waiting for Ash to appear out of nowhere and get us into some sort of mess." They both laughed and Misty looked at him.

"Is he still the same?" Brock looked at her very seriously.

"He's grown up a bit, but yeah he's the same. He'll still run into every kind of trouble without thinking, and rush after something because he thought it was a new pokemon." Brock rolled his eyes.

"It's weird. When Ash first went so far it was like he didn't exist anymore. And then when he said he was going back to re-challenge the leagues and win them all I really thought he would start from home, not work his way back."

"I thought so too, but I think he viewed it as every win would being him a step closer to home and to beating the league where it mattered most to him. Besides why tease yourself?"

"Well if he had come home everyone here could have seen him and been around to wish him luck. I had to stay up until three in the morning just to watch his matches."

"At least we're finally back in Sinoah. I never thought that would feel close to home."

"Brock why did you stay?" She asked. It was weird because she had never thought to question it before.

"Well I think at first it was because I didn't want to go home. I mean I'm 21 now and after working with Ivey I knew I wanted to learn more about Pokemon. So when Ash told me about his plan I thought it would be a good change of pace. Now I'm learning more about Pokemon every day and I don't know I just feel like it's my time to not be at home, if I wasn't traveling I would be home with the kids while my Mom runs off to who knows where and my Dad disappears randomly. You know how they are. I want to have my own life too you know?" She did know. Misty hadn't known her mother very much, she was a water ballerina like her sisters and travelled for work all the time. Her father was gym leader until Daisy was elven and then put her in charge so he could work full time to afford the gym improvements they'd needed. Now that the gym supported itself and they were all older the two of them traveled a lot and really were never home.

"I understand." Misty narrowed her eyes realizing something. "Hey wait a minute, is that why you want me to talk Ash out of leaving? Because you need someone to travel with?"

"No." Brock said slowly, "Although I could see why you might think that. This isn't about me. If it was I would travel around Kanto because those are the Pokemon I want to breed specifically. And it would be way less crazy. Ash is a handful you know that. I'd rather have the twins with me most days." He joked.

"Well now that they're nine that might be better actually." They both laughed at the idea of little Billy and Tilly ruffing it out like they had once.

"As long as it's not Yolanda." He scoffed. Yolanda and Misty were about the same age, but where Misty was a tom boy Yolanda was her polar opposite and so they weren't as close and Flint and Lola thought they were. Misty rolled her eyes in agreement and they continued on for a few more hours. When they got to the dock Misty was surprised to see there was a ship on port.

"I thought we would have to wait until morning?" She asked looking at the ship.

"Nope I thought we might like a head start." Brock said with a smile displaying two tickets. Misty smiled and took hers as they made their way down to the ticket agent. They needed passports and legal documents so it took a while but they finally got on and made it toward their rooms. "I don't know about you but I could definitely use some sleep." He said.

"Trust me, me too." She said feeling her body ask for it. Misty was in top physical condition, her job required her to be, but she wasn't used to pulling the long nights like she had been in her childhood. "Night Brock."

"Good Night Misty." As the parted she realized how real this was. In a few hours they would be in Sinoah and she would be facing Ash. The last time they had seen each other she'd been twelve. He had sincerely tried to make her 16th birthday but his ship sunk in some islands so he ended up video calling her an hour after everyone had left. She almost hadn't answered. She played with her hands and looked around the little room. The bed looked more and more cozy every moment and so she crawled into bed and fell asleep.

When the ship hit port she felt fully rested and as ready as she could be to see Ash. She'd put on a green tank top with think straps and a tie in the front left, and wore jean capris with it. She had wanted to put her up but couldn't find her elastics, secretly she hopped they ran into a little shop before they ran into Ash so she could fix it.

When they disembarked Brock started off towards east with Misty right behind him. "How far away was he supposed to be staying?" She asked.

"About a twenty minuet walk to the Pokemon Center. Hopefully he's still there." She nodded again and followed him in comfortable silence for a ways.

"Misty there's something you need to know before we go in." Brock warned after they'd walked about half way.

"What's that?"

"He doesn't know you're coming."

"You didn't tell him you were inviting me to his birthday?"

"No he knew that!" Brock explained quickly. "He asked me to get it to you when I told him I needed to stop home, but I didn't tell him I was going to invite you to come sooner."

"Brock I might not carry a mallet anymore but I hear sticks work just as well." She warned.

"Misty it will be fine I just wanted to make sure you knew he didn't know before we got in there in case he acts weird when he sees you."

"Why would he act weird?"

"Well it has been a while." Brock reminded and Misty didn't need any more than that. It would be weird for her to see him too.

When they finally got to the Pokemon Center Brock walked right to the front desk while Misty looked around. To her surprise this Center was a little different from the ones at home and she wondered if Ash even noticed those things anymore. "Hey Misty!" Brock called regaining her attention. She walked back over. "He's here but he went to get something to eat a little while ago. We should go try to meet him and get lunch."

"Okay." She agreed. "Can we put down our big bags first?" Misty had sworn to herself she would never pack as lightly as she had before the last trip. That one had been unexpected so she had almost nothing with her. This time she had two bags. A big backpack and a little one. Brock had two as well but she imagined Ash would only have one and would say "What else could I need?" Then again his had been twice the size of her small one.

Once they had put the bags in the room they started off towards the market looking for Ash. "How are we going to find him here?" Misty asked looking at the huge crowds. Brock thought for a moment and then reached for a pokeball off his belt. He called out Geodude.

"Hey buddy go try to find Ash and Pikachu okay?" Geodude hurried off and Misty just stared at him.

"Brock now we don't know where Geodude is."

"Oh trust me, that won't be a problem."

"Why's that?" Brock's face fell as he admitted,

"Well Ash is bound to be out of money by now and you know how he eats." Misty covered her face with her hands and shook her head. Leave it to Brock to hope Ash had an empty stomach.

"Brock I'll check down after Geodude and you go the other way and we'll meet back here in ten." Brock nodded.

"Sounds good to me, good luck."

"You too." Misty started off before she realized that she hadn't seen Ash in years. She stopped for a moment in hesitation, would she really not be able to recognize him? She shook her head. She looked the same for the most part he would have to too. She started out slowly looking at every face that passed, brown eyes, wrong shape, black hair, too tame, she took a deep breath before it dawned on her all she needed was Pikachu. This would be easy.

Ash was counting his change trying to see if he could get the fries and the shake when Pikachu perked up. "What is it buddy?" He questioned not even looking up. Ash trusted his little guy if there had been danger he would know. He was still focusing on the counting when Pikachu hit him with his tail and started speaking.

"Pika pika Pikachupi!" Ash stopped and looked up Pikachu almost never said that because it was his word for Misty.

"Buddy she's not here." He said giving his electric friend a pat on the head. Pikachu charged in protest and Ash threw up his hands. "Okay easy, easy we'll look. Pikachu jumped off Ash's shoulder and started through the crowd. He looked around for a bit before he heard Pikachu get excited again. "It can't be" he said under his breath darting toward the noise. His energy felt at an all-time high when he saw Geodude and Pikachu in a happy reunion. Ash took in a deep breath to rein in his disappointment before greeting the pokemon. "Well at least if Brock is back he can buy lunch, want to show us the way Geodude?" Geoddue nodded and they all started in the other direction. They only walked a few feet before Ash saw the familiar look of messy dark hair. "Hey Brock-O!" He yelled getting his attention.

"Ash!" He replied in greeting. The two met and did the 'guy-hand-shake-hug-thing' before Brock returned Geodude to his pokeball.

"Hey you wouldn't happen to have any money for lunch would ya?"

"My trip home was great thanks." Brock said flatly.

"What? Can't we talk about it over lunch? I'm starving." Brock hit him over the back of the head with a laugh.

"You're always hungry." They turned to start walking before Brock tensed up.

"Ash wait I need to tell you something first."

"No time Brock starving kid here." Ash said with a laugh.

"No Ash I'm serious wait up." Ash didn't hear him instead he started off to go back to the restaurant when he did a double take. There was a girl. He'd seen her in-between people, and she'd had Misty's red hair. Brock looked at his face. "Ash are you okay? You look like you saw a ghost." Ash shook it off and smiled.

"Oh it's nothing Pikachu said Misty's name earlier and I saw a girl with red hair. But Pikachu just made me paranoid. Right Buddy?" Pikachu looked deflated. For one he hated talking about Misty, it always put him in a funk, and also Ash had just called him out so that never turned out well either.

"Ash wait." Ash turned again still not listening to Brock and stopped dead. This time she wasn't in-between anything she was standing in the middle of the path looking right at him with a small smile. Ash turned to Brock immediately.

"Do you-?"

"Yes she's really here." Brock said no longer even trying to explain.

"Misty?" He called out still unsure. Pikachu on the other hand flew. Ash was pretty sure he didn't move that fast in a quick attack. Misty caught him and spun from the force with a laugh.

"Hi Pikachu did you miss me?" He replied by nestling into her neck with a happy 'cha' noises while she patted him. Ash finally shook himself out of it and started over. When he got close Pikachu jumped onto her shoulder so they could hug.

"Hey Ash." She said with a smile as he hugged her.

"Hi." He whispered. When they broke apart Brock rejoined them with a smile.

"I was trying to tell you I brought someone with me." Ash could have killed him. And then when he thought about it realized he should punch himself in the face. Brock had tried, and he was just hungry.

"I didn't know you were going to see Misty." Ash said quietly, still very thrown off.

"Well you did want to invite me to your Birthday didn't you?" Misty said teasing him already. Ash had forgotten he had asked Brock to mail it from Pewter along with another five or six invitations. "I just got a special home delivery." Misty said with a smile. She wasn't happy that Brock hadn't told Ash, but it was way more fun to watch him freak out anyway.

"It's good to see you Mist."

"It's good to see you too, it's okay that I'm here right?"

"It's more than okay it's perfect." Ash said with a smile. Misty blushed a little, and Ash couldn't help but take in all the differences, she had long hair, was wearing girlie cloths, and was somehow softer than before. It was then that it occurred to him how much he had missed with her specifically and he felt the guilt building up again. Brock dropped his hand on Ash's shoulder and smiled.

"Well let's go get some lunch before you shrivel up or something." Misty laughed and Ash gave a small smile.

"Yeah I'm starving." He said dully. Misty and Brock exchanged a look but left it alone deciding to deal with it later.


End file.
